


In Every Life

by oonymay



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 5+1, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Kind of written as a 5+1, M/M, Reincarnation, but also not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-13 09:38:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16015259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oonymay/pseuds/oonymay
Summary: In every life, Chan and Woojin search for each other.





	In Every Life

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [25 Lives](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/418079) by tongari. 



> Hey! This is just a quick fic that I wrote in celebration of the end of term, so idk how it turned out so angsty hahaha
> 
> Also! Happy 21st birthday to Chan! 
> 
> Anyway! I hope you enjoy it! I put footnotes to specify some of the historical events, but they're not linked because I couldn't work out how to use the html. You absolutely don't need to know things about the historical context, but I just added them at the end in case you are interested :) 
> 
> This was inspired by 25 lives by tongari, as is mentioned above. I highly recommend you check it out - it's a really beautiful work and definitely worth your time!
> 
> As is mentioned in the tags - There is death in this fic several times and in various ways, including disease, crime and the death of children. If you want to know more, please send a message to me on [tumblr](https://oonymay.tumblr.com) or [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/oonymay/).

The first time they meet, Chan is five and Woojin is, too.  He's an older five, but still five.[1] It’s fate. Or maybe it's not, but their parents say that and Chan wants to believe it, too.

Their small village will be relocated one day and they might never see each other again. But, for now, they are left together to play while all the adults work to gather what they will need to survive the next, icy winter. Chan likes this; playing outside is always so much nicer than being left alone in the pit houses.[2] The fact that he can play with Woojin just makes it even better.

As they grow older, it is normal for them to split their meals, small and plain as they are. Some nights, they end up in the same shelter, shielding themselves against the bitter wind or sharing a few tender hours that they are not allowed as soon as they step outside again.

It is a blissful childhood. They grow up as brothers. There is nothing that they do not know about each other. Each intimate curve, freckle, mole and sunspot has been accounted for between them and there is not a single story that they do not know about each other.

Chan and Woojin are just seventeen when they are separated. Their coming of age ceremony was held at the same time, just a few months prior.[3] Although they are both now adults and expected to act as such, when he is told Chan feels like a small child again, alone and afraid. It feels as if he has been told to leave part of himself behind. An arm or a leg would have been easier because trying to rip out part of his heart is just too painful.

His parents tell him that they have to go. For years, he has worked with them in gathering the supplies they need every day, but they have become scarce and the sky has turned yellow.[4] His parents see no other option. 

He finds Woojin that same day, tears pricking at his eyes but refusing to let them fall. He is an adult; he is not allowed to cry any more. For the sake of his family, he must be strong and follow in his parent’s steps willingly. His remaining sisters – some of them have been married off and will be left behind – depend upon him and his brothers to uphold that. 

“We’ll find each other again." They are alone at the edge of the Big Forest and leaning against the marker stone near it. Chan refuses to acknowledge how choked up his voice is and instead stares at the swirling, speckled patterns in the stone.

Woojin gives him a bright smile. “Of course we will. You’re my brother. Brothers will always find each other again.” He, too, traces the worn down surface of the rock.

Chan nods. Suddenly, he scrabbles around to find something sharp. With the first flint he finds, he begins to grind it on the rock until it has a jagged edge. Unflinching, Chan slits a thin line across the palm of his hand. He passes the shard to Woojin.

Woojin needs no guidance or instruction. He repeats the action and then sets it down beside them as he proffers his hand to Chan.[5]

Chan takes Woojin’s hand tightly and squeezes it as if it is the last anchor he has to Earth. There is blood welling up between their hands and it makes everything feel oddly slick. A dribble of red appears and splatters between them. Chan cannot pull his eyes away from it.

“We’re linked, now,” Woojin says. The blood has gone tacky, like glue that holds them together. The legends tell them that they share blood now. They are forever bound, for better or for worse, together or apart, whether they see each other again or these are the last moments they will spend with each other. “We have to meet again because you’re officially my brother.”

“I was always your brother,” Chan replied. He looks up to meet Woojin’s gaze and realises that his eyes are glistening, too.

For a long time, they sit in a mutual silence. There are no more words that need to be said. Woojin wraps an arm around Chan’s shoulder and pulls him close. Chan rests his head against Woojin’s and they stay there until the night falls.

There is a gentle caress of departure and then Chan leaves. Woojin’s family has decided to stay and pray for the rains to come clear again and for the frost not to return. Chan departs before sunrise. When the day finally does break, though, there are three suns.[6] Chan wonders if the world is telling him that he is going the wrong way.

 

They never see each other again. Not in that life.

But, in the ones after that, they are forever linked. In each lifetime, each dimension, each timeline, each world, they are destined for each other.

They only see each other every so often. Korea, more often than not, but there are a few times in China and Japan, twice in America, once in the middle of the ocean after an aeroplane crash wherein they die hand in hand. Sometimes they get happy endings, sometimes they do not.

 

The world seems to be cruel more often than it is kind, though.

In 1501 – although Chan calls it 3834[7] – he acts as the healer for their village. Since he has been declared an adult, he has spent his days amongst the sick and wounded, trying to preserve life where he can and council where he cannot.

In this lifetime, he meets a cast-out Woojin who is coughing and cannot stop. Pustules appear on his body soon afterwards and a shiver runs down Chan’s back. This illness is notorious.[8] No amount of medicine, herbs, prayers or love can change the prognosis.

Woojin does not live to see the next solar term. There is nothing that Chan can do. He can only afford an hour the next day to lay Woojin’s pock-scarred body in a small grave. He has other people that he has to help.

 

There are a few lifecycles where they miss each other completely.

In the 1860s, Chan is born and raised as a poor immigrant child in France.[9] His mother was forced onto the boat when the Europeans came and taken back as a spectacle. They end up on the streets; cold, hungry, poor and fighting with thousands of others who are equally desolate.

His mother dies of influenza, leaving Chan to starve in the streets. It only takes a few more months more until Chan has a familiar rattle in his chest. A week before he turns nine, Chan stops waking up in the stingingly cold morning.

Woojin is born just a few months later, still in Korea and never to know that Bang Chan even existed. He grows up with a hole in his chest, knowing that something – someone – is missing, but never knowing exactly who. He spends his entire life wondering what it is that he has yearned for.

 

One time, Woojin and Chan are both born in America, their parents having moved to escape the aftermath of the Korean War. Years later, they meet in a small lecture theatre. It is a crazy time. They watch in horror as Mount St. Helens explodes, throw their heads back and scream along to Bruce Springsteen, get caught up in the dizzying joy of seeing the Berlin Wall fall. Somehow, they find each other in the middle of everything and spend a happy few years together.

They die when Woojin is twenty-seven and Chan only twenty-five. The case is closed almost as soon as the death certificates have been written; it is rare to find a person who dares to speak their names. The event records are buried under piles of other paperwork and never see the light of day again after the allegations of murder are carried through.

In reality, it is a hate crime. Angry, young people who fundamentally disagree with what Chan and Woojin have together. What happened to them might be known, but it will seldom be discussed. The Chan and Woojin who died in 1992 will never be remembered. Their society does not care for their relationship and neither does anyone else who has already forgotten them.

 

They meet in an entertainment company, once. Perhaps, that incarnation is the cruellest for both of them. They live in the same dorm, share all of their meals, spend nearly every living minute together. Always so close and yet knowing that they can never love each other.

For as long as this fame lasts, they live in the public’s eye. Maybe in another world they would have the courage to be selfish, but Chan is their leader. Woojin is their eldest  _hyung_. They do not have the liberty to mess up. If they are seen together, it will not just end their futures, but potentially also those of their seven younger group members. Without even needing to talk about it, Chan and Woojin know that they will always put those seven others ahead of themselves.

Both of them know that there is no question of ‘ _when?_ ’ because the answer will always be ‘ _never._ ' It is not love, it never was love, it never will be love. They have no choice. 

 

But, then, there is Chan’s favourite life. Woojin’s family moves to Norway for the start of high school and his new school pairs him up with Chan, the only other person in his year level who speaks Korean. He has already sat through a crash course in Norwegian, but a little extra support is a blessing. They meet in maths class when Woojin is shown into the spot next to Chan.

They glance at each other and is like fireworks explode in Chan’s chest, red and gold and glorious.

“Have we met before?” Woojin asks quietly.  

Chan shrugs and smiles at him. “You seem familiar,” he agrees. 

It is the perfect fairytale. Meeting at fifteen, the same university at nineteen, married at twenty-six, children at thirty-four. A life filled with loving kisses, casual hugs and happy memories. They have no secrets to keep from each other or anyone else. There is pain but only in its measure. There are children who love them and who they love in return.

When it ends, Chan is content. Woojin is next to him and there is a simple whisper on both of their lips.

“I’ll find you again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, I'm no genius in history and particularly not in Korean history. I love it, but there's an awful lot that I do not know and - frankly - that I will probably never know. I've done my best to not make this a complete shot in the dark, but if you see or know of any glaring mistakes, please let me know! :) As I said, I love history so honestly, you'd make my day if you could teach me something new! 
> 
> [1] Age reckoning system, traditional to Eastern Asia, including Korea. A baby is born at 1 year old and each New Years Day, they add one year to that age.
> 
> [2] Pit houses are shelters that are partially dug into the ground and then have a roof. They’re common in many different cultures and have been documented in early Korea. 
> 
> [3] Coming of Age ceremonies traditionally occurred between the ages of 15 - 20. It marks the time at which a child becomes an adult. 
> 
> [4] Minoan Eruption - approx. 1640 - 1500 BCE. One of the largest known eruptions in history. Although it occurred in modern-day Santorini, Greece, it is thought to have been alluded to as far away as China. Several historians draw links between these Chinese records, which cited a 'yellow fog, a dim sun, then three suns, frost in July, famine, and the withering of all five cereals' and the eruption.
> 
> [5] Blood Oath. Traced back in various cultures for centuries. Depending upon the cultural context, it can symbolise allegiance, brotherhood, etc. One of the principles for this ritual is the idea that the two people now share blood.
> 
> [6] Minoan Eruption - approx. 1640 - 1500 BCE. One of the largest known eruptions in history. Although it occurred in modern-day Santorini, Greece, it is thought to have been alluded to as far away as China. Several historians draw links between these Chinese records, which cited a 'yellow fog, a dim sun, then three suns, frost in July, famine, and the withering of all five cereals' and the eruption. 
> 
> [7] Korean calendar. Has been largely abandoned.
> 
> [8] Smallpox. It is thought to have originated in Asia, although, there have been outbreaks all over the world during various periods. Although the disease has now been eradicated and there is a cure, it used to be a very deadly with a high mortality rate. 
> 
> [9] French Campaign against Korea - 1866
> 
> * * *
> 
> Tumblr: [Oonymay](https://oonymay.tumblr.com)
> 
> Instagram: [Oonymay](https://www.instagram.com/oonymay/)


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